S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  460--A
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              January 4, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed  to  be committed to the Committee on Agriculture -- committee
   discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
   to said committee
 
 AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation  to  aggra-
   vated cruelty to animals

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 353-a  of  the  agriculture
 and  markets  law,  as  added  by  chapter  118 of the laws of 1999, are
 amended to read as follows:
   1. A person is guilty of aggravated cruelty to animals when,  with  no
 justifiable  purpose,  he  or  she  intentionally kills or intentionally
 causes serious physical injury to a companion  animal  OR  WILDLIFE,  AS
 DEFINED  IN  SUBDIVISION  SIX  OF  SECTION  11-0103 OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL
 CONSERVATION LAW, OTHER THAN INSECTS,  with  aggravated  cruelty.    For
 purposes of this section, "aggravated cruelty" shall mean conduct which:
 (i)  is  intended  to  cause  extreme  physical pain; or (ii) is done or
 carried out in an especially depraved or sadistic manner.
   2. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit or
 interfere in any way with anyone lawfully engaged in hunting,  trapping,
 [or]  fishing,  OR  TAKING as provided in article eleven of the environ-
 mental conservation law, ACTIVITIES  DEEMED  TO  BE  SOUND  AGRICULTURAL
 PRACTICES  PURSUANT  TO  SECTION THREE HUNDRED EIGHT OF THIS CHAPTER, OR
 REASONABLE ACTIVITIES FOR THE PURPOSE  OF  MANAGING  PESTS  THAT  IS  IN
 ACCORDANCE  WITH  FEDERAL,  STATE,  AND  LOCAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS, the
 dispatch of rabid or diseased animals, as provided in article twenty-one
 of the public health law, or the dispatch of animals posing a threat  to
 human  safety  or  other animals, where such action is otherwise legally
 authorized, or any properly conducted scientific tests, experiments,  or
 investigations  involving  the  use  of  living  animals,  performed  or
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD00711-03-3
              

 S. 460--A                           2
 
 conducted in laboratories or institutions approved for such purposes  by
 the commissioner of health pursuant to section three hundred fifty-three
 of this article.
   §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
 have become a law.